


Separated

by stxpsign



Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, It's a The Parent Trap AU, Lyatt endgame obviously
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-13
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2018-10-04 05:57:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10269800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stxpsign/pseuds/stxpsign
Summary: It's another two and a half years until they finally bring down all the members of Rittenhouse, including Emma and Lucy's mother. Lucy and Wyatt are engaged, but after she ends up pregnant with his twin girls, the two quickly marry. However, quick marriage was a bust for them and the two need a quick divorce, which also means a quick solution to both wanting to be parents to their twins but living on opposite sides of the country. When they decide just to split them up, one keep one and one keep the other, it was never meant that the girls would meet, or that the one living with Wyatt would meet Lucy or vise versa, however after coincidentally sending both to the same summer camp in Oregon, that's exactly what happened. What comes next? Only time will tell.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> No, I don't know what life is going to be like in 2019 or 2030 so a lot is just based around how present day is but I hope you enjoy this prologue, I hope to have the first actual chapter up soon.

They didn't want to kill her, at any point, not really. However, they were able to bring down every single member of Rittenhouse in present day, including Lucy's mother, and Emma had still been torturing them with her jumps for three months after the most recent arrest. It had been a little over two and a half years since Emma stole the Motherboat, and they had learned a lot more, such as the fact one can apparently double back as long as they don't meet a repeat of themselves, and grown a lot closer, as it wasn't long thereafter that Lucy and Wyatt decided to go for it, to start dating and actually by the time they killed Emma, were engaged. 

 

Killed Emma. Agent Christopher had given them the clearance to kill her long ago, Emma was Rittenhouse and it did not matter if she had to come back dead, but it wasn't what they had originally wanted. Or that they still wanted, they would have to leave the body there, and without two pilots at all times, would have to somehow come back and retrieve either the Lifeboat or Mothership, whichever they decided to leave there and come back with. 

 

Of course, there was a plan set in place that, of course, they had to use after they arrived back in 2019 and Wyatt said, in an exhausted tone, "Emma's dead." Of course, back at Mason, Jiya had been better for a long time now, both in piloting and health-wise and they would just wait the four hours then have her and the other pilot they were now training, Jamie, go back and retrieve the machine. 

 

After that, they had only the clearance to go back one more time, get Carol Preston and Henry Wallace together and, finally, bring Amy home. When they got back, after Lucy asked about what the name Amy Preston meant and Agent Christopher asked, in a puzzled tone, "Your sister?" No one could describe the amount of relief that washed over them. 

 

Reading up on herself in this timeline, it seemed mostly correct, Henry died in 1996 when Amy was 5 and Lucy was 13, but instead of Carol just getting diagnosed with her cancer in 2009, she actually died of it then too, when Amy was 19 and Lucy was 26, her reports claiming she refused treatment. 

 

The reunion was half-sided, at best, which would make sense since, in this timeline, a now 29 year old Amy had never not existed but, never-the-less, heartfelt until Amy noticed Lucy's engagement ring and started pestering about how Lucy could be engaged and never had Amy meet the guy. But, when they did meet just one night after, Amy loved him, like Lucy knew she would.

 

Lucy chose to not tell Amy about who their mom really was, or the fact that they were only technically half-siblings, it wasn't needed especially due to how young, in this timeline, Amy was when their mom died. She would never tell her, and it wasn't something she felt ashamed of either.

 

* * *

 

 

The engagement didn't last long. The excitement of everything was something to celebrate, it was far from the first time they had sex but it was a nice added component to the celebration. Until Lucy got pregnant, with twins too which was a surprise since, while her great-grandmother was a twin no one else had yet to be in her family, and they decided to basically elope. Neither wanted Lucy to have an obvious pregnant stomach at the wedding, and they didn't want to do it after the kids were born either. 

 

It was a small celebration in the backyard of the Preston house, apparently Amy was currently dating a pastor who had his ordination to perform marriages. Amy was Lucy's maid of honor, and Jiya a brides maid, while Rufus was Wyatt's best man, and one of his buddies from the military, Darren, was a grooms man. The only people in the audience were Connor Mason, his boyfriend, Agent Christopher, and her wife. Luckily, Carol's old Elizabeth James gown still was able to fit Lucy perfectly.

 

* * *

 

 

The twins, Traley Winifred and Maya Georgina, were born on May 12th, 2020 with Traley being nine minutes older. 

 

* * *

 

 

Maybe it was the fact that they had to marry so soon. Maybe it was the fact that that a pregnant Lucy was definitely different than a non-pregnant Lucy, and Wyatt hadn't signed up having to deal with a pregnant Lucy so soon. Maybe it was that they were no longer time traveling, that that bit of excitement was taken out of their lives. Whatever it was, the marriage crash and burned with only three weeks after the twins were born, they were filing for divorce. 

 

Lucy made clear to the judge, multiple times, she was supposed to be starting at Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island at the end of August, and needed this to be done as quickly as possible as Wyatt also was making clear there was no way in hell he was going to Rhode Island with her to finish this. 

 

The custody agreement was the hardest part to get through, living on two different sides of the country, both wanting to see the girls, and both being fit parents, there wasn't a simple solution until Wyatt suggested, exasperated, "Why don't I just keep Traley and Lucy keep Maya? Each keep one of them, never see each other again, that goes for us and the twins." Somehow, Lucy agreed. 

 

* * *

 

 

Amy moved to Rhode Island to help Lucy and Maya settle in. Once there, Lucy, of course, quickly changed her name back to her maiden name of Preston, and had Maya's last name changed to Preston as well. Later, after breaking up with Jiya due a fight about if they were on Wyatt's or Lucy's side in the divorce, Rufus would come and join them. The time travel project had been shut down, and he was out of a job so he'd do some work around the house. 

 

* * *

 

 

Realizing he couldn't be without a job and be the great father he wanted to be, Wyatt got a job in training at the Fort Bliss Base down in West Texas. He didn't want Traley to grow up on a base, so he chose to live in the nearby Horizon City, and the same that happened to have Rufus begin to live with Lucy came that way, with Jiya moving to live with the Logans for the same reason. 

 

Neither were sure what the custody agreement actually meant in many ways. It was clear, of course, Lucy and Maya couldn't come to see Traley or Wyatt, and Wyatt and Traley couldn't come to see Maya or Lucy, but were they supposed to tell the other girls the truth? Were they supposed to tell them they had an identical twin sister out there, one who shared everything about them, but that they could never see the other? Both decided not to, but the question rang over their heads, exactly what was it they were supposed to do about this? 

 

* * *

 

 

When she was six, Wyatt would find Traley rummaging around and looking at a torn up picture of him and Lucy, where just Lucy was shown. He told her that was who her mom was, but never went into much detail, though he allowed her to keep the photo. 

 

* * *

 

 

While, over in Rhode Island, Lucy had almost right away framed the one with just Wyatt in, put it in Maya's nursery, which later became her room, never failing to say every time that Maya asked about it, "That's your dad, sweetie." Somehow, that acknowledgment always seemed to satisfy the girl so that she didn't ask more questions. 

 

Their lives, they were okay. But none knew what was about to happen next.


	2. Chapter One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so, when trying to figure out some things for this story long-term wise, I did change some of my plans I had originally when writing the first chapter/prologue but I don't think any of that is very seen in this part? If you are confused though, feel free to comment with any questions and, as long as it isn't a spoiler, I'll reply. You can also contact me on my twitter (@cldpain) or tumblr (@gayalvers). Also if you want to picture Maya or Traley I'm using Malina Weissman as them so you can too. Okay, well, enjoy and sorry for the wait!

It was the stories. Growing up in the hick town he did, his grandfather's stories about Germany, France, the Philippines, they were his saving grace. And, as he started to get to the age where he matured and seriously thought of having a family, he always knew, he had to show his baby the outside of a hick town. The only towns close enough to the bases he would always be on in the US were, sadly, just those, but Jessica...She had vowed to follow him wherever they would go. 

He would show his child Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Libya, wherever he was deployed. He would not be the type of military dad and husband who only flew home to see his family twice a year, they would be with him every step of the way, and, of course, they would be protected too. Then, what he calls the 'series of thens' happened. 

Then, Jessica died and they had never had children. 

Then, he retired from the service after everything with Rittenhouse and had Traley and Maya with Lucy. 

Then, Maya and Lucy were gone, and he only had Traley, or as she would be nicknamed, 'Tray'. 

Then, the money wasn't enough and he returned to train on one of the bases in West Texas. 

Then, he was suddenly raising his daughter in a hick town and didn't have the job mobility to ever go show her the world. 

They would go camping for a couple weeks every summer, of course. The Lincoln National Forest was close enough, and he made sure his daughter learned Spanish as they would routinely go see Mexico when he had off-days due to living so close to the border. Jiya taught her Hindi as well. But, it wasn't what he wanted. It was good, but it wasn't anywhere near what Traley needed so that she would be saved like he was. 

One of the women who worked with him, Tammy, she had kept telling him about how she sent her daughter Evelynn to this fantastic camp for girls in Sisters, Oregon every year and really recommended it for Traley if he wanted her to get out and see the outside of small-town Texas. However, Tammy also didn't care for Wyatt constantly reminding her that Evelyn was years older than Traley, and the camp was only for high schoolers aged 14 to 19. 

Then, suddenly, his Traley was 14.  She would be starting high school in the upcoming year, and she could go to Camp Redwood. She looked so much like her mom, he couldn't help but comment to her on it, earning him a smile that could be seen both by the shape of her mouth and by the twinkle in her blue eyes. 

 _'_ _Maya is 14 now too, she would be starting high school too'_ , the thought crept into his mind and he had to swallow a gulp and push it out. 

It was June 24th. Today, they were leaving their little Texas town for the two-day drive to Portland, Oregon. They would stay there one whole day, then the day after that he would drive to drop her off at the camp, and he would go back to Texas for three weeks without her.  

* * *

 

Raising Maya was hard on Lucy. They originally just resided in Newport, but as Maya reached school-age, she knew it wasn't the right place to be. The schools were average, at best. And that was how it was across the entire state of Rhode Island. Then, she was teaching all day, she didn't want to come home to have to teach again for what these public school teachers weren't doing. 

Some co-workers suggested private schools, even boarding schools, but no matter how much Lucy looked into it, she couldn't allow herself to send Maya to one of them. _'I've already lost one of my daughters, I'm not_ _about to lose the other,'_ She thought. 

No, she could make the commute. She could find an area with a great public school district, and live there. 

But that place, Newton, Massachusetts, meant a one and a half hour commute, and that was without traffic. 

Rufus and Amy truly were like angels sent down from heaven. They helped out so much, and didn't get jealous when Lucy took Maya on her first sabbatical to French Guiana, but not them. But moments like when they were together on sabbatical, it made it all worth it. She loved her daughter. She loved seeing Wyatt's eyes look up at her every time she looked down. 

Then, her daughter got to the point she was forming a sense of independence, and would always complain that her friends got to go camping, go to summer camps, all that, but she didn't. 

 _'Yeah_ _,'_ Lucy thought, _'She definitely is half Wyatt.'_  

She thought about taking her herself, there were plenty of places to camp in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, but remembering back to one of their first missions, Pittsburgh circa French and Indian War, and how she and Rufus had never got better since. Wyatt was the one with survival skills. It was impossible, so she started looking into summer camps. 

 _"Maybe one on the West Coast," Maya had suggested, "You said I was originally born there?"_  

Of course, Lucy had nodded as a way to give an affirmative. She wanted one in Northern California, due to Maya's exact remark, but settled for one in Southern Oregon. It looked the best for building skills Maya had yet to gain, or even build, that Lucy and Rufus couldn't help with. Plus, there were some fun thing Maya already did know and love that were activities there. 

Camp Redwood. It seemed perfect. 

* * *

 

"Check in will be in reverse alphabetical order by first name.  

If your name begins with V-Z, show up at 8am and expect to be done by 10am. Q-U

If your name begins with Q-U, show up at 10am and expect to be done by 12pm. 

If your name begins with L-P, show up at 12pm and expect to be done by 2pm. 

If your name begins with G-K, show up at 2pm and expect to be done by 3:30pm. 

If your name begins with A-F, show up at 3:30pm and expect to be done by 4:00pm. 

Dinner will be provided for whole families but parents and family members that are not campers should leave by 6:50pm. 

If they have not left by 7:45pm, they will be forced off the premises." 

* * *

 

Traley had been mad at her dad for many things so far in life. For one, her name, a version of the town his grandmother had been born in in Scotland, Tralee. But this, he was really getting a mouthful, one of the ones he would often say she inherited her mother's personality for, she had to be up and checked out of their Portland hotel at 6:30am to make it to Sisters for 10am. If only her name wasn't so high up in the alphabet, this could have been avoided. 

He tried to reason with her, of course, that if she followed his suggestions and went to bed early instead of staying up texting her friend, Ximena, back home, she wouldn't have been as tired. And that she could go to sleep in the car – which, of course, she ended up doing after yelling for only about fifteen minutes.

Overall, checking her in was relatively easy, and quick as her name was so high up in the alphabet, unpacking her stuff into where she would be staying in Cabin Sycamore was the hard part. For one, there was far too little room for three weeks worth of stuff. Second, all Traley wanted to do was send texts to Ximena, who was not even up yet, instead of helping her father, who was getting questioned by moms on where his wife was. 

He expected his daughter to kick him out, not want him to stay too long due to her dismissive attitude. However anytime he would allude to anything that meant he was going, she would refuse to let him, saying he needed to at least stay for the dinner. 

* * *

 

Leaving Cabin Sycamore later that night, he saw what he shouldn't have ever expected to. 

She had the same skin tone, same hair, from the side, looked like the same eyes, height, lips, nose, and general body shape too entering into Cabin Willow. Trying, he shook his head, probably just another of the 14 year olds, they were relatively at the same place developmentally could look the same. And it was not as if soft, pale skin … or blue eyes … or being a brunette were exactly uncommon traits. It only shook him as he had been starting to think of Maya starting high school and wanted it to be. That's what he told himself. 

He told himself that enough over the next three weeks, he was also able to completely erase from his memory seeing a woman, one whose body he definitely remembered entering a car and driving off on that same walk back.

 


	3. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is longer than the previous chapters so I hope you guys like it! Thanks to Rachel (rachelbee on here/idatheactivist on tumblr) for helping me learn how to write dialogue and a general thanks that I keep forgetting to give to Rachel and to Gail (bethylark) because they help me with some general plot things!

"Tay-r-lee?" 

"Taylor?" 

"Truh-lee?" 

"Tally?" 

"Taylor-ee?" 

"Trah-lie?" 

"Tay-lie?" 

The two girls had been going at it for what felt like forever to Traley, and the brunette was finding the upmost humor in it. Somehow, they had gone through every mispronunciation possible of her name possible, except her actual name. She swore she even heard Serenity suggest simply "Taylor" at one point and she had no clue how they could even get that. 

However, it was getting ridiculous and she just couldn't stand it anymore, sitting up and criss-crossing her legs, she tiredly exclaimed, "It's pronounced like Trah-lee! Okay?" Looking at the almond-shaped eyes with ashamed looks she got in return after saying it from both of them, she sighed before saying, "Listen, sorry about that, got off on the wrong foot. But you can call me Tray if it's too hard to pronounce Traley. Most do. So..." She smiled, "Which one of you is Serenity and which is Naomi?" She asked before explaining, "I was awake that whole time you two were guessing my name, heard you two call each other by your names." 

"Naomi," The clearly older of the two, probably around sixteen or seventeen, pointed to herself then to the younger one, who appeared to be the same age as Traley, "Serenity here is my younger sister." 

"I'm fourteen too," Serenity stated, pointing to the info above Traley's bed that said 'Traley Logan, 14, Team Turquoise'. 

"Didn't even notice that, they're like damn headstones, what are we already dead?" Traley raised her one eyebrow as she asked. 

Naomi gave a blow of air out of her nose, before walking back to her bed, nudging Serenity as she went. 

Walking forward, she silently asked if she could sit on Traley's bed with her, to which she obliged. After sitting down, she started, "I'm also team turquoise so we'll be seeing a lot of each other, which is why I wanted to come introduce myself. There's also this girl who was right in front of me in the check in line, Shayla, she's the same. Though she's in Cabin Sequoia, but you'll meet her. And she actually came international for Redwood, like she's from Israel." 

"That's cool," Traley stated, not knowing what else to say. 

The other girl was clearly not going to give up the conversation easily, though, as she just asked, "So, where are you from?" 

"Texas," She could tell she was about to get some stereotypical question about Dallas, or Houston, or cowboys, so she chose to reluctantly specify, "The far Western side. Technically our town is called Horizon City, which would make you think it's a city of it's own, but it's really small and the biggest city nearby is El Paso twenty-five minutes away. Which is also only the same amount of time it takes to get to Mexico from where I live. And my dad works on the military base, we aren't cowboys." 

"That's cool! I'm from Wheeling, West Virginia!" Serenity smiled as she exclaimed. 

Traley hated small talk, but that didn't mean the conversation didn't go on the rest of the night, causing Traley to leave Ximena's texts on "delivered" until the counselor yelled that it was lights out.  

* * *

It had been six whole days now since the start of camp, and she was right, they would be seeing a lot of each other, and it made them close friends. In fact, she ended up being much more what Traley would describe as 'cool', and the same with Shayla. 

There would be a campfire tonight to celebrate almost a week, and more fun activities, including one of the sports Wyatt has been training Traley in due to her loving for years of archery, where there would be intergroup mixing. 

The excitement for the day reigned over the whole camp, including over with those in Cabin Willow. There, Maya's intelligence had made her friends in the older group than her, Aaliyah, age sixteen, and Shawnee, age fifteen. They were seasoned veterans of the camp, with this being Aaliyah's third year and Shawnee's second.

They, of course, knew what to expect from this day but it didn't stop Maya from squealing when she saw the sign pointing to archery. 

"You an archer, My?" Aaliyah questioned. 

"Yeah, ever since I saw The Hunger Games, I begged my mom for lessons, and I love it! I'm gonna play on my high school team!" 

"Aren't you from the suburbs, though? How do you..." Shawnee asked, the confusion just dripping from her voice. 

"There's indoor archery, Shawnee," Maya rolled her eyes before following the sign, Aaliyah and Shawnee trailing close behind her. 

* * *

Traley had just won a game against some nineteen year old named Mahina from Cabin Willow on Team Cerulean, it was her sixth game already and her sixth win. She knew Shayla and Serenity were getting tired of sitting and watching, but when Counselor Lauren, who was running the archery station, came over and asked if she wanted to play another, Traley couldn't stop the "yes" that came out of her mouth. 

"So who's up next?" Megan called out, and Maya sprinted to the front. 

"Maya Preston, Age 14, Cabin Willow, Team Chartreuse!" She exclaimed and Lauren wrote it down before taking the bow and arrows from Mahina and giving them to Maya.

"Good luck Maya, she's a freak," Mahina whispered while heading over to stand with Aaliyah and Shawnee, watching. 

"Good luck," Maya then repeated to the girl next to her, this stranger she would have to go up against but figured it was good, practice for the competing in it she would start in high school. 

"You'll need it," Traley scoffed out in return. 

* * *

Traley could feel her blood boiling, it was the last round and she knew it was a close game, unlike the others where she knew she had them far beat by this point. 

Then, there it was, she emptied her amount of arrows and Lauren was counting up the points, she didn't register the exact amount of points each girl got, but just heard that the other one – _Maya_ \- had won, and she went to raise that girl's arm. 

Maya turned to her opponent to say, "Hey, good g-" But, before she could get out the last word of "game", Traley had slammed the bow down and stormed away, Shayla and Serenity running behind her, asking if everything was okay. 

"You want to play another game?" Lauren asked. 

"No," Maya shrugged and nicely handed over her bow, "Just wanted to play one, fun game." She said before walking over to Aaliyah, Shawnee, and Mahina, receiving high-fives for how well she did. 

"Okay, who's up next?" Was all that Maya heard Lauren yell out as she was walking away. Maybe some rounds of cornhole would be fun. 

* * *

For most of the days of the camp, it wasn't what one would describe as "camp fire food". In fact, they didn't even use a camp fire or eat outside, it was an area that Maya could best describe to be like the dining hall where her mom taught, and everyone's favorite food was Chef Peggy's pizza.

However, tonight was different. As part of the celebration, the entire camp hiked out together into the woods, where there was already a campfire set up, and hot dogs and s'mores ready for toasting on the fire. 

To make sure everyone got an equal amount, the counselors and other workers were passing out the supplies, and as Jill was counting out the number of marshmallows for Traley, Traley cleared her throat and said, "Actually, I'm allergic. Can't have any marshmallows." 

Tilting her head, Jill gave a condescending, "Aw, that must suck," Before moving onto the next person, which happened to be Shawnee, then it was Mahina, then Aaliyah, and then Maya. 

Maya, seeing her pull out the marshmallow bag stated, "No, thank you. I'm allergic." 

"Two marshmallow allergies!?" Jill exclaimed, seemingly perplexed, then looking at Maya, "Wait, aren't you just the same girl who just..." As Maya tilted her head and furrowed her eyebrows, seemingly confused, Jill just shook her head "I must be losing my mind, sorry, and sorry about the allergy, again, or for the first time, or...whatever." She shook her head, and glanced one more time at Maya before moving down the line again. 

"That was super weird, right?" Maya asked her friends, getting nods in return. 

* * *

"Hey, you," Traley had been practicing her power stance and walk for the past five minutes, needing to be intimidating enough as she walked right up to Maya, "Had my girls looking around, you're that Maya girl from archery earlier, right?" 

"Listen, I was never trying to..." Though she cut herself off with a gasp as she raised her eyes from her feet to the girl standing in front of her. Out of every kind of physical similarities that she had seen over the years, none compared to this girl. It was like looking in a mirror. She could tell the other girl got startled too, but covered it up quickly with a, 

"What are you gasping yet?" Traley asked – though her tone wasn't in the nice question sense, if you asked Maya – before continuing, "I asked you a question. Two now, actually."

"I'm sorry but how can you pretend not to be seeing this?" Maya furrowed her brow, wondering if she really was just looking in a mirror – somehow, hallucinating – but when Traley didn't mirror her expression, she had to realize somehow this was happening. 

"Seeing what?" Traley pursed her lips and extended both of her arms to the side with open palms. 

Maya looked on either side of her to her friends, and even to Traley's friends, making sure everyone was seeing this and she wasn't just going crazy. When she either got nods or the awestruck expressions that had been on her face as well not too long ago, she felt rightful to exclaim, "We look exactly alike!" 

"Hm, I don't see it," Traley started, when she got the loss at words expression from Maya in return she continued, "Like those lips, honey who do you think you are? You're no Kylie Jenner." 

"Right, right, right," Maya nodded, "How could I even ignore how uneven your eyes are compared to mine? I mean is that due to how bad you contour your nose, or is your nose really naturally messing with your eye placement so much? Then, I mean, your forehead might look better if you had bangs, or maybe you still need to grow into it. And I clearly have more muscle up here," Maya stated, grabbing Traley's upper arm, "Considering I'm the one here who can archer." 

"Oh, you come here," Traley growled with gritted teeth, dragging the other girl by the hair, until Jill came over yelling about what was going on. 

"She started it!" Both yelled simultaneously, and Jill sighed, going to get another counselor to take them back to their respective cabins. 

* * *

 "Come outside." 

The message was mysterious, and Maya had no idea who it was from other than that it came from a number starting with 915, which she confirmed as the El Paso, Texas area code after a quick Google search. 

Nevertheless, though, she was bored, as no one else was back from the campfire yet and going back between playing Cooking Fever on her phone and reading Ann Rinaldi's "Cast Two Shadows" could only keep a girl entertained for so long. So, putting on shoes, she followed the directions from the text outside, when she saw Traley and almost made a bolt for inside. 

"No, wait!" Traley cried out, as Maya turned around to face her, she smiled and held up a box of cards, "Poker?" 

"Are you serious?" Maya questioned, not knowing why in the world this girl who tried to beat her up by dragging her hair not too long ago was now offering to play a game with her. "Also, how did you get my number?" 

"The answer to that second question is not important," Traley dismissed, "And yes, I am serious. Actually, I think this is the perfect way to peacefully settle that little feud from earlier." 

"I'm listening," Maya crossed her arms. 

"Well, poker isn't just about the luck of the shooting of your arrow. It's about intellectual intelligence, skill, and it's the perfect game. Winner is the best of us." Traley stated, clearly proud of herself. 

"Okay, but let's put a little risk in this," Maya smirked, "Loser streaks around the main area of the camp." 

"I'm in," Traley smiled and Maya went in to get some blankets, both deciding to play outside on the grass rather than inside either of the cabins. 

* * *

As it turned out, if one was the queen of archery, the other would be the queen of poker and Traley wiped Maya right clean and Maya had to strip and start running, much to Traley's entertainment.

However, just as Traley was picking up Maya's clothes, planning on running in the other direction so Maya wouldn't have clothes the rest of the night, everyone decided to come back from down below, seeing the two girls. 

Grey-haired, the director of the camp, Ms. Rice stepped forward from the group and called the naked Maya, Maya covering up her private parts with her arm and hand, to stand beside Traley before asking, in the harshest tone the girls had probably heard from anyone since arriving, "What exactly is going on here?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, sorry if that felt like an abrupt ending, but that was the best one I could think of okay thanks bye


	4. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am really sorry it's been so long, school has been so hectic for me and I was also having issues with being blocked on how I wanted this to go. But I really hope you enjoy!

As it turned out, Ms. Rice – nor the others at the top level in the camp – found the girls' idea to be amusing, or even saw their point about it being a way to make up for what happened down at the camp fire. 

In fact, the next morning the girls were told to each pack up their stuff to report to the lone cabin away from the others, Cabin Burflower, after siesta. 

"Me and Shayla will totally bail you out!" Serenity exclaimed, interrupting Traley in the finishing parts of her packing process. 

"Thanks, but no thanks," Traley shook her head, "Can't have you getting into trouble and being put in isolation too." 

"At least let me give me your phone number and text me," Serenity pleaded, her eyes showing how desperate she was for Traley to allow her to do so. 

"Fine," Traley said, pulling out her phone and only realizing then the number over her texts to Ximena signaling that there were 17 unread messages, before opening the area of creating a new contact and handing the phone over to Serenity, who handed it back about two minutes later with a... 

"I texted myself too so now I have your number!" 

Looking down at her phone, Traley's eyebrows lowered as she asked, "Rcom?" When she got a nod and smile from Serenity, and saw out of the corner of her eye, Naomi sit up on her bed and slowly nodded, it just furthered her confusion and she asked, "What language is that from?" 

"Người Gia Rai!" Serenity enthusiastically, the same way she often did talk that confused Traley on how she could be that happy all the time, replied. 

"No, Serenity, the language is just Gia Rai, we are Người Gia Rai, but the language is just Gia Rai." Naomi clarified, slowly walking over from her bed to stand beside Serenity and put her hand on her sister's shoulder, "Serenity is still learning a lot ... which I guess you are too, based on your isolation sentence." She smirked at the younger brunette. 

"Yeah, I guess so," Traley huffed and then turned away from the sisters, which hoped was a sign enough of the girls that she wanted to be left alone. After feeling Serenity hug her from the back, they did seem to pick up on Traley's nonverbal way of saying to go away. Just hopefully this Maya girl could do the same... 

* * *

 If there was one thing Maya was always taught, it was to not get attached. 

Her dad left. 

She moved states twice in her first six years. 

Her Aunt Amy was still a huge part of her life, they had dinner together nearly every night, but moved out when she found an Australian immigrant husband, Djalu Maymuru, and they had their identical twin boys, Maya's three-year-old cousins, Gatjil and Yingiya. 

Add on top of that her mom said Maya would only meet a man she started dating if it got serious, and she knew she had yet to meet a single one in fourteen years. 

Her mom had wanted to unpack her, put all her clothes away in the drawers each girl was given, but Maya had stuck with her plan to just get out her bedding and put the still full suitcase beneath her bed to get something from it every day. Therefore, 'packing up' wasn't really a thing. 

When neither Aaliyah or Shawnee - or anyone for that matter – showed up to say goodbye and see Maya off to her isolation, she decided she was fine with it. 

"I want you to know," Counselor Jeannie, Ms. Rice's daughter, started, "I did vouch for the two of you not to go to Cabin Burflower, I did some crazy things at your age too and isolation isn't always the answer." 

"Thank you, Jeannie," Maya gave a warm smile, before putting her duffel bag over her shoulder and having to do the walk of shame. 

* * *

The other girl was just as aggravating as she had seemed to be the day before, so much so that Traley's breathing even was causing Maya's heartrate to rush and her to feel hot out of anger. And, if there was one thing she picked up from her upbringing with her mom, it was throwing insults under your breath in French when you were angry with someone. 

For the past three hours, just about how long they have even been in this cabin and Maya started reading her book whilst Traley was listening to her music – without headphones, much to Maya's dismay – that has been exactly what Maya has been doing. Saying French insults she had learned while in French Guiana, such as "You have the body of a dog and the IQ of a five year old" and "You're just a little waster who is good at nothing". As well as her American insults, but in French, like "Burn in hell" and "Noisy bitch". 

"What kind of a mother raised you?" Was apparently what set the other girl off as the next thing she knew Traley paused her music and stormed over to her. 

"Okay, you've been doing this the past three hours, what the fuck are you saying to me?" The girl's brows were furrowed in anger and she had her hands in fists, Maya was almost scared she would hit her … Almost. 

"Oh, nothing," Maya smirked, "But, also, why does everything have to be about you? Can't I just practice my French since, you know, what else is there to do in isolation with you?" 

She just saw Traley roll her eyes and shake her head before starting back over to her side, yelling back in Hindi, "Well just know you are not the only one who can speak another language!" Then, finishing off in Spanish, "And I'm actually even trilingual … whore." 

Closing her book, Maya raised an eyebrow in curiosity and interest, and speaking softly she asked, "What language was that?" 

"Why should I tell you?" Traley cocked her head as she replied, sounding exhausted. 

"Well, we still have two more weeks here," Maya explained, "In just this cabin. We don't get to go out and do the activities with anyone else, our feed is delivered to us. You heard the terms of our isolation, too, remember?" She waited for a response from Traley, which turned out to be just a nod, before continuing, "Eastern State Penitentiary. Look it up on your phone. People go crazy without sensory input, and if we don't even talk a little to each other, that will happen." 

"Fine," Traley groaned, "The first language was Hindi, but I said the last part in Spanish. I speak three languages, so, well, you can assume." 

"Hindi? You don't look Indian," Maya observed. 

"I'm not Indian, as far as I know I'm just a plain ol'  _gringa_ ," Traley laughed, " _Gringa_ is Spanish for white girl, by the way. I just know Hindi because I learned it." 

"Well, three? How did you learn all that?" Maya's eyes widened to a comically large size as she asked. 

"Yeah, well, my dad speaks four and my …" She trailed off, trying to figure out the best word for what Jiya was to them before just saying, "Jiya speaks two. All different languages too between them, except English of course, can you believe that?" 

"What languages are they all?" Maya asked, "My mom and I just speak English and French so these other languages interest me." 

"Jiya is the one who taught me Hindi, so that's what she knows. My dad knows Spanish, German, and Arabic." Traley nodded and counted out on her fingers as she said. 

"What about your mom? Does she speak anything?" Maya continued her questioning. 

"I don't know, I never met her, I think," Traley looked down at her lap as she said before putting up her wall and harshly replying, "What the fuck is this? Some type of interrogation? How about you, how do you know French so well?" 

Maya quickly raised then lowered her eyebrows and pursed her lips before replying, "Like I said, my mom knows it, and she's a History professor so we got to spend a year in French Guiana while she was on sabbatical. She's actually really good at her job, my full name is Maya Georgina because she named me after two historical women, Maya Angelou and Georgina Sweet." 

"Did I ask about your name?" Traley replied with a snarking tone. 

"I guess not," Maya shrugged, "I'm sorry for what I said about your mom." 

"Wait, the hell did you say about my mother?" Traley asked and seeing Maya's reaction, she clarified, "Remember, I don't know French so you just fucked up, now what did you say about my mom?" 

Maya took a deep breath before telling her matter-of-factly, " _'_ _Quel_ _genre de_ _mère_ _t'a_ _élevé_ _?'_  is French for 'What kind of a mother raised you?'" 

Traley replied just by clapping her hand, before laughing as she said, "State of the art insult, Preston." 

"If it makes you feel any better, my dad is just a picture," Maya cocked her head to the front, an empathetic look on her face. 

"Your dad is a picture?" Traley furrowed one brow, a look of confusion just pure on her face, "That makes no sense." 

"My dad left only three weeks after I was born. Seriously, three weeks. I was born May 12th, 2020, and according to my mom, he left June 2nd, 2020." Maya held up her hands, as if she was quietly saying 'what can you do?', "And all I have of him is a picture." 

"Our tragic life stories really do compliment each other, don't they?" Traley chuckled out. 

"What do you mean?" Maya asked. 

"Well, I have a mom who abandoned me and my only knowledge of her is a random ass picture. You don't have a dad due to the same thing. We each speak different languages based on who raised us and the languages they spoke. And won't you fucking guess?" Maya got a good look into Traley's eyes at this point of her rant, seeing the water build up in those blue eyes that echoed her own, "We were born on the same day of the same year too. Next thing you'll tell me is you're from San Francisco." 

"I was born there," Maya stated, "But after what happened with my dad, I moved with my mom to Newport, Rhode Island. And then to Newton, Massachusetts when I was starting school because it had better schools and was within commuting distance to Newport so my mom could still work at the university she does." 

"Wow," Traley exclaimed, "We actually moved too, when I was super young, but to Horizon City, Texas. But my dad does a commute to teach too, but it's just at the Fort Bliss military base not some university. He doesn't get to go somewhere on a 'sabbatical'," She said, putting 'sabbatical' in air quotes, "Whatever that is." 

"This is really weird," Maya commented, "I mean, your photo is probably good, though, mine is ripped, and he's in this cabin, which I know nothing about this cabin other than it is in this photo. And his left arm is cut out, I think it might've been around my mom, though I don't know why she would cut herself out." 

"Well, that makes this more strange," Traley raised both her eyebrows, "Because mine is in the same ripped fashion, and only my dad's arm is in the photo, not the rest of him." 

"I'll show you mine if you show me your's," Maya suddenly stated. 

Traley's eyes widened for a second, before laughing, "That sounds really dirty, I hope you know that." 

"I meant the photo, that is if you have it on you," Maya said, rolling her eyes at what the other girl had implied. 

"Well, as it happens, I do," Traley said, pulling it out from under her pillow, keeping the actual photo part facing her as she stroked it. 

Maya got her's out from her suitcase, before going over to Traley's bed, "I'll count down from three, then show," When she got a warry nod in return, she started, "Three...two...one." 

The parts didn't fit together perfectly, likely due to the quality warring away over time, but they clearly belonged to each other, and both girls recognized the parents immediately as they said at the same time, "That's my mom," and "That's my dad." 

Looking at each other, it was then that they realized... _Oh, shit_. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The picture I used was this one (https://twitter.com/malcolmbarrett/status/823777701047603201), by the way.


	5. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So let's just agree I'm the worst at getting chapters up in a timely (ha, time) fashion. This chapter does finish when they're at camp though (I couldn't help but think everything with the camp is just filler). Also credit to bethylark, I stole the name of Lucy's book from her fic, Curiosity.

It was likely a few minutes, probably not even that, that the girls felt shell-shocked, unable to say anything or even move, but that didn't stop it from feeling like ten hours. 

"This is some 'It Takes Two' type shit," Traley finally exclaimed as she got up from her bed, starting to pace the room with her thumb and index finger placed on her temples, "I mean, shit, this is just …. shit. Fuck, I don't know." 

"I-I-I-I-I," Maya could hear herself stuttering. Of course, she knew everything she wanted to say. Something about how finally getting that missing piece she's felt of a family missing in front of her, that this is actually quite cool. Maybe a witty remark about how identical twins must run in the Preston family, considering her cousins Gatjil and Yingiya. That maybe if Traley could quit swearing just in a row and they could talk, maybe it would be a good situation. But also, about how mad she was at her mom, she's experienced anger and resentment before towards her, she was a teenager after all, but nothing like this. This was messed up beyond anything else. And, frankly, how Maya felt like freaking out in the same way Traley was right now. 

"Jesus, do you need me to slap you to get you to stop fucking stuttering? It's annoying," Traley turned around to face her twin, her eyes cold with anger. 

"Is your reaction to anything that gets thrown your way profanity and violence?" Maya asked back, finding it ironic that her reaction became to channel the part of her inside that reflects how her mother talks, when she was so angry at her mother right now. 

"Sure, I don't fucking know. If that's what you say though, then sure," Traley replied, lengthening the amount of time she spent on the last 'sure' to the point it came off as sarcastic, before she walked back pointing her index finger to Maya's chest before finishing, "But, maybe, just fucking maybe bitch, it's because I didn't have a mommy to make me," She paused, seemingly to the other girl taking time to figure out the word, even though she fully knew it was, "soft." 

Rolling her eyes and grabbing the girl's finger in both her hands, bringing it down more to a waist level, Maya stated, "But before this big shock you were being nice, talking about our upbringings. You had some not exactly pleasant wits, but nothing like this. And don't you think now that, you know, I know this dad you're talking about is my dad," She said, putting the emphasis on 'my', "who I've never known. And you know this mom I'm talking about is your mom," She said, putting the emphasis on 'your', "who you've never known, that actually we should just continue swapping stories? Get to know them through each other." 

Traley seemed to think about it for a second, puckering her lips and her eyes looking up at the ceiling, before going with a simple, "Nope," Before expanding on her reasoning, "See, this is all so fucked up, Maya! I don't want to know about your mom or your fantastic life with her, because I didn't experience it and I don't want to just live a life through you! And why? Because she left me just with dad, who never told me I had a twin by the way. She. Abandoned. Me. And dad did the same to you, you should feel the same way I do right now!" She finished, tears clearly welling up in her eyes but too strong to let them fall. 

"Yeah, I feel that," Maya nodded, before an idea seemingly struck her out of nowhere, "We …. could live a part of a life with them, though." 

"What?" The question came out of Traley more timidly than she would have liked. 

"I don't know, I … we," Maya corrected herself, "Have identical twin cousins, and they're really young but they like to go around saying they are the other, Gatjil saying he's Yingiya and Yingiya saying he's Gatjil. It's obvious they're lying because of their huge smiles and holding back laughs, but without that, they could really trick us!" She exclaimed, "I mean, because we're much older than that, we are probably much better liars and could pull it off. I go back with dad, say I'm you. You go back with mom, say you're me." 

"So we're switching from 'It Takes Two' type shit to 'The Parent Trap' type shit?" Traley raised her right eyebrow as she asked, "Let me guess, have them see each other for the first time again when they have to switch us back?" 

"Well," Maya thought for a moment before flailing her hands, "Yeah, I guess that's how that would have to work out. I mean, after a while I will definitely want to see and go back to my … our," She corrected herself again, "Mom again. Sorry I keep doing that." 

Debating the positive and negative outcomes in her head, Traley smirked before responding, "Okay, even if we can't make this full 'Parent Trap'-esque and they realize," She put her hand over her heart and raised her voice to mimick, "'Oh my, I've been in love this whole time still with my child's other parent'," Before going back to her regular voice to finish, "They won't be able to keep us fully separated anymore. Not only from each other, but from me seeing mom and you seeing dad. So...," She took about a minute pause, knowing the anxiety it would cause in the other girl, "I think it's a great plan, I'm in." 

At that, Maya seemed to jump up with more enthusiasm than she probably should have had for how upset she and Traley just were, going over to her suitcase and pulling out ten books before coming back and dropping them off on Traley's bed. 

"'An Indigenous Peoples' History Of The United States', 'A Queer History Of The United States', 'A Disability History Of The United States', 'A People's History Of The United States', 'The Federalist Papers', 'What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation Of America, 1815-1848', 'The War On Alcohol: Prohibition And The Rise Of The American State', 'The Way We Never Were: American Families And The Nostalgia Trap', 'America: A Narrative History', and 'Actor And Assassin: An Account Of The Final Moments Of John Wilkes Booth'," She explained pointing to each book as she read the title, "That last one is written by our mom, so you better read it. Actually you better read them all, frankly, you're lucky I brought light readings with me here." 

Having to bring her eyes back from their wide shape to their normal size and close her gaped-open mouth, Traley replied, "Listen, no. That's it. No," When seeing the brief panic go over Maya's face, she flanged down her hand and exclaim, "I'm still gonna do this switch! But I'm not reading all this. If Rogelio De La Vega and Jane Gloriana Villanueva taught me nothing, it's that when a smart-person topic I don't know about is brought up, excuse myself to the bathroom and come back to another conversation." 

"Is that some Latin America celebrity reference I should know?" Maya put her hands on her hips and asked. 

"No, I mean, yes Jaime Camil who plays Rogelio is also active in a lot of telenovelas and Rogelio as a character is a telenovela actor, and Jane as a character writes novelas. Also, it is about Latin Americans in the US, yeah. But 'Jane The Virgin' is just a famous American tv show, and Jane and Rogelio are characters," Traley explained, before her curiosity peaked, "Wait, did you even catch my 'It Takes Two' and 'The Parent Trap' references to their full extent earlier?" 

"I understood 'The Parent Trap' ones," Maya nodded. 

"Wow. Okay, I will cut a deal here with you. I will read 'Actor And Assassin: An Account Of The Final Moments Of John Wilkes Booth'," The first one was easy for Traley to pick out, of course she wanted to read her mother's book, but the second and third? Not so much, none really peaked her interest and it took a while before she finally decided on, "'A Queer History Of The United States', and 'The Way We Never Were: American Families And The Nostalgia Trap'. You, will listen to music and watch some TV and movies, kind of dumb yourself down on the school stuff, and build up your smarts in what is going on in the media world." She ended with a wink. 

"Fine," Maya sighed, "I will accept that. But remember we also have to cut you bangs and teach you how to do better makeup so your face doesn't look uneven!" 

Traley just rolled her eyes at that and flipped open to the first page of 'A Queer History Of The United States'. 

 

* * *

 

 

The rest of the last two weeks passed by fairly quickly. Traley had to admit Maya's books were much more interesting than she thought them to originally be, same with Maya when it came to the tv shows, movies, and music. 

Now was the fateful moment, each were taught each other's lives, basically. Shown pictures of people they may come across, taught how they should interact with said person. Taught more of each other's way of talking in general, their dialect and common word usage. Knowing each other's phone passwords, but now was the time to actually exchange their phones, and go their separate ways. 

"I can't believe mom is driving here all the way from Massachusetts," Traley exclaimed, her and Maya were hidden behind a tree, if their mother showed up too early, the whole entire plan could be ruined if they were seen together. 

"Yeah, but I get to meet dad at the airport to fly to Texas, and mom and I didn't drive here we flew here so it's kind of the reverse way of each coming and going," Maya gave a small smile. 

"You know, I may just miss these past few weeks," Traley said. 

"Me too." 

And, with a long hug between the two girls, that was that. Maya stayed longer behind the tree than Traley, waiting until she was sure it was safe to walk away to get on a shuttle to the airport. This was truly going to be a change, and she was excited for it. 


	6. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eh he he. Hi. So it's been nearly a year since I started this fic and we're barely in it. And it's been 8 months (?) or so since I last updated but guess who finally got her groove back (hopefully)? This girl. Or else I'm trying. Anyways Season 2 in just a few days! I'm so excited! But in the meantime enjoy this chapter.  
> Also, if you are a returning reader, yes I did change a character's name to Tralee (this is not some Mandela Effect thing) for reasons I do not plan to go into publicly.

Maya was long gone by the time Lucy showed up to pick up Traley, in fact it was to the point that Traley started to wonder if Lucy was going to show up at all or if she would just be abandoned at camp. _‘It wouldn’t be the first time she left me alone,’_ Traley started to think, especially when she saw she was only one of four girls left at the camp.

Traley figured that _Maya_ would start up a friendly conversation with the girls, unlike Traley's automatic reaction of standing far away from the other girls with her arms crossed and wearing an intimidating frown, that Lucy would expect that when she came to pick _Maya_ up. So she went over, repeating the name _‘Maya Georgina Preston’_ in her head like a mantra. The other girls she supposed were cool enough. There was a girl named Maeve Galatioto; she was from Monticello, Wisconsin. Another was Elsa Dahl, which Traley had to hold back rolling her eyes at the name Elsa’s parents chose, but she was from Mayville, North Dakota. Finally, there was Fiona Kim from Palisades Park, New Jersey.

Finally, Lucy did show up though, and Traley waved goodbye to the girls to join her … Mom, when that word came up in her head the only thought that filled Traley's mind was, _‘Wow, that’s still taking some time to get used to.’_

“Maya, I’m so sorry I’m late,” Lucy said, reaching to squeeze her daughter’s hand as she got in the car, which Traley tensed up to. Definitely not expecting that, especially as it hit her in that moment, looking down at Lucy’s hand and at her face. Pictures didn’t do her justice, pictures didn’t even do how similar she looked to Traley justice. Her dad was right, other than their eye color and plumpness of the lips, the two of them were the spitting image of each other. Traley's clear tension, however, caused Lucy to ask, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Traley cleared her throat, choosing to leave it at that.

“Did you make any friends at camp?” Lucy asked, the tension in the air of the car high and needing something to relieve it.

“Not really,” Traley sighed, wanting to brush back her bangs into the rest of her hair at that very moment. They just did not feel right on her forehead but Maya had yelped at the idea of Traley doing exactly that. She couldn’t ruin her reputation with her bad fashion choices. “But I do gotta say girl, I’m glad you and dad named me Maya. Some weird as fuck names were at camp. Like what kind of shit parents named them? Those kids gonna have so much trouble with bullies.”

Lucy decided to just force out a little cough at her daughter’s liberal use of expletives, which was never banned in the Preston household and Maya had definitely used an expletive or two before, but two within two sentences? She chose to ignore the bad grammar for the time being as well, she did send her to a camp on the West Coast after all. It would change back soon when they got back to Massachusetts, she was sure of it. She just opted to ask, “Names such as what?”

“Eh, too many to mention,” Traley shrugged, “Can we get McDonald’s?”

* * *

The two of them did like to eat out together, but rarely did fast food if ever. Despite this, Lucy couldn’t say no to her daughter, it had been hell on Earth without her these past few weeks. She had some comfort sure, there was Angelo, but Maya didn’t know about him yet. And she still had no daughter for those weeks, no Maya. _‘No Traley,’_ She thought before wiping it from her memory.

The only thing she did say ‘no’ to with this request was Maya’s request to go through the drive-thru, with Lucy insisting on the two of them going inside and sitting down. Her daughter wasn’t acting like herself today, and Lucy was determined to figure out why, or at least get her back to her normal self.

“Okay, you want to know the real reason I was late picking you up today?” Lucy asked, reaching her hand to her daughter’s side to grab a fry.

Traley had to restrain herself at that, Jiya and dad knew not to touch her food. If this lady thought she was any different, Traley being herself would cause her so much misery. But she had to restrain herself, it was probably normal between Maya and her mom. So she just said, “Sure,” while trying to make it seem as little sarcastic as possible.

“I was getting this,” Lucy pulled out the room key for the Renaissance San Francisco Stanford Court Hotel and slid it to her daughter.

“We’re staying in San Fran?” Traley's eyes widened, too bad Maya wasn’t here as during the past couple weeks she knew that Maya would’ve loved that.

“Mm Hmm,” Lucy smiled, as worried as she was for running into someone from the old days and might let … _Things_ slip, she knew the slight disappointment there was in Maya for going to Oregon instead of Northern California for camp. She continued, “Three nights. Tonight, tomorrow night, and the night after. Two full days of seeing the city you were born. Then, we will drive to Denver, Colorado, get a hotel for the night there. From Denver to Toledo, Ohio. From Toledo back home to Newton,” She ended in a smile and, “Sound good?”

“Sounds amazing!” Traley exclaimed, wanting to just hug her mom from across the McDonald’s table. She was just waiting to take the pictures in each place. She wasn’t even being sarcastic while she followed it up with a, “So much time for us to bond!” Before catching what she said and trying to fix it, “Uh, I mean …”

Lucy cut her off and grabbed her hand before she could finish her sentence, nodding with sad eyes as she spoke, “I’m really sorry that I work so much. I mean French Guiana was the last time I fully got to dedicate myself to you.”

“S’alright,” Traley said and took a bite of her Bacon & Cheese Quarter Pounder. That was all she could muster, how could she pretend to even have memories of that trip? Have memories of her mom working? Have memories of any time her mom wasn’t working to bond with her? She hasn’t known the lady since she was three weeks old.

* * *

Meanwhile, Maya was on the drive back from Mesa, Arizona. Why were all the flights closest stop to Horizon City in Mesa? She may never know and didn’t bother to ask, worrying it could’ve been something Traley had already gone over with her dad.

Instead, she was just going through Traley's old text messages, maybe there would be something with her texts to her dad that would be useful, or even her texts to other people. Maya made note of one thing in particular though, there were so many texts to a girl named Ximena, and they used pet names for each other? Ximena would call Traley ‘Angel Eyes,’ to which Maya needed to scoff at when she remembered the end of that first week at camp, that girl was anything but an angel. But then Traley would use ‘Pretty Lady’ back. All Maya made note of was to maybe invite Ximena over later, perhaps seeing each other in person could make sense of … That.

What Maya was able to catch on fast though, even on the shuttle to the airport to fly to Mesa, was their dad calls Traley ‘Tray.’ It was an important note she had to remember.

Soon enough into Maya being concentrated on the phone, her dad playfully punched her as he said, “I don’t see you for three weeks and when I do you are just right back on that phone and ignoring me.”

“Well, I hugged you at the airport and didn’t have my phone on during the plane ride,” Maya pointed out, it was true. As detached as she felt in the situation, as much as she felt still she couldn’t get attached, they spent the whole time on the plane playing the card game War. Maya kept winning which her dad would act hurt about, the actual one who went to war losing at War. He even accused her of cheating at one point in their game.

“Come on, tell me about your camp,” Wyatt urged.

“Not much too tell but well, it was strange. A lot of people were named after Native American tribes,” Maya pretended to be deep in thought as she went off with names of tribes that either she already knew someone with the name or thought could make a name, “Cheyenne, Dakota, Lakota, Kiowa, Cree, Inca, Zia, Zuni, Sarcee, Shawnee,” Then she figured the perfect ending, something her mom would do. Her mom would always finish off the list with the one she wanted to hit home and that’s exactly what Maya did as she said, “Maya.”

Wyatt for a split second closed his eyes, before opening them real quick as he remembered he was on the road, and cleared his throat before defecting to the ‘Shawnee’ she had said before she had said ‘Maya’, “You know this one lady your mom got fascinated with? She was a Shawnee chieftess during the French and Indian War. Powerful, beautiful, super intimidating. Her name was Nonhelema, N-O-N-H-E-L-E-M-A. You should google her on that phone of your’s.”

“Oh, cool, I didn’t ask,” She didn’t know how Traley typically responded to her dad giving her information about her mom. But it seemed like the type of response Maya would get out of Traley a lot, and Wyatt shook his head and chuckled when she said it, so it seemed appropriate. Maya was taken aback by that statement though, out of all the powerful, diverse women her mom would gush to her about, she never talked about a Nonhelema. _‘Did this guy somehow ruin Nonhelema for her mom?’_ Maya thought to herself, swearing her revenge on him if he did.

“Jiya’s been missing you,” Wyatt said, trying to have a conversation with his girl for once.

“Yeah? I’ve missed her too. Tried to practice my Hindi at camp, but not a lot of people knew it unsurprisingly,” Maya shrugged.

“Did you get to practice your Spanish at least, _mi amor_?” Wyatt -- her dad -- asked.

All she could think to say in return was a short and sweet, “ _Sí_ .” It wasn’t completely a lie, Traley did teach her a few phrases of Spanish so that Maya could use it to convincingly become Traley. Maya would then go and continuously practice on those phrases to get them completely down. But it wasn’t _her_ Spanish, she barely knew any of the language. She just hoped that her dad wouldn’t try to continue this conversation in Spanish, or else her cover would be blown. And it would be way too fast to succeed in the plan.

Luckily for her, there really was no more Spanish after that. Honestly, there wasn’t much more talking in general. He waved her off due to that short response and just said, “Keep texting Ximena. I know that’s what you’re wanting to do.”

The rest of the ride was pretty silent, well when one toned out the annoying voices of the radio hosts and the fact they decided they just wanted to talk a lot and play music minimally.

She just hoped Traley was able to pull this off as well.


End file.
